A heavily tattooed billboard of Jesus with words like "Outcast", "Hated," "Addicted," and "Faithless" is causing a commotion to residents of Texas.
The erected billboard is part of an ad campaign of JesusTattoo.org, a Christian outreach group.
According to Christian Post, there are about 50 billboards scattered across Lubock, Texas to date.
"The message is a simple one, Jesus' love is transformative. He loves us unconditionally and no matter what you've been marked with, faith in Him and love for others will transform us," Ashleigh Sawyer said, media relations coordinator for Jesus Tattoo.
Jesus Tattoo is not affiliated to any religious denomination, but insist that the billboards are there to spread positive message. However, not all residents seem to agree with their statement.
“I don’t like the picture. I think it’s very derogatory,” one disgruntled resident told CBS-affiliate KEYE-TV. Then there's another man who labeled the image as "blasphemous."
"We're finding that those who visit the website and watch the video come to understand the message of the campaign," Sawyer told the Post. "Certainly, like with all deeply personal relationships, not everyone approves of the image of Jesus with tattoos, but we welcome the controversy because we understand that a dialogue on the issue is the best way to spread the message."
“I thought that it was cleverly done because, basically, it’s a visual of Jesus taking the sins of people and covering them and taking them from an outcast or something and giving them a new start, which is what the gospel is about. I looked it up, and I said, this is perfect because it just draws people in here,” said David Wilson to ABC News, a senior pastor at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock, and one of local Christian leaders who is giving out his full support to the group.
The organization also created a Youtube video as part of their campaign. The six-minute clip which gone viral, depicts a shaggy-haired man, apparently Jesus, plays the role of a magical tattoo artist who has the power to change and take away negative labels emblazoned on people's bodies into positive ones. But in turn, those negative markings are all transferred to him. See the video below:
